How many steps backwards?

Now I don't really want to turn this into a rant, however I've had two incidences in as many days where I've been so disappointed with the offering of gluten free food.

The first was a pub/restaurant local to me.  As it happens this establishment was one of the first places who sent the then Head Chef, on one of our training courses.  Then for nearly three years they handled gluten free brilliantly, despite the Head Chef having moved on.  They had taken everything we had said on board and fully trained all the staff to be competent in gluten free, especially having a separate gluten free menu.  Dishes that could easily be adapted by substituting the bread roll etc were available for me to eat.

So, on Wednesday evening, we decided to treat the kids and take them out for dinner to thank them for helping us reorganise our kitchen to a development kitchen rather than a manufacturing one.  We arrived at the pub and got a drink at the bar and took the menus out with us to peruse while we enjoyed the last of the sunshine over looking the sea (this particular pub commands the best location in the area).

As we live on the coast you can imagine that there are a lot of fish dishes, but there were the normal steaks, gammon, slow roasted duck and belly of pork.  They had a key to which dishes were gluten free, egg free etc, but they made the key so hard to understand.  I don't know about anyone else, but I am so used to seeing gf for gluten free or g for containing gluten, but they did an alphabetic key where 'a=gluten'.  It got really confusing!

Anyway, out of possibly fifty to sixty items on the menu, there were four that were gluten free, which did not include any of the sides....so no potatoes or gluten free bread or anything.  Even the prawn cocktail (prawns and lettuce!!!) was not gluten free because of the bread served.  No adapting here then!!!  So we finished our drinks went elsewhere...another establishment has lost four covers on account of not being able to cater for one coeliac diner.  At this moment in time, I will not be recommending them and will take the matter up with their head office.

The next rant is about Tesco. We have a cafe in Tesco, Barnstaple that has a Costa concession.  It used to be owned by the Compass Group, which is huge, but it recently changed ownership.  I know the manager quite well (I do like my Costa coffee) and they have always provided me with ham, chips and beans and I have never been ill.  The chips are fried separately, the ham is not crumbed etc. So, I was on a course all morning and met hubby and kids in Tesco for lunch before we did the shopping.

We went upstairs to the cafe and grabbed our trays to queue up like the sheep we are and very quickly it was our turn to be served.  I asked whether they had any ham to which the server said no.  "Okay, what have you got that's gluten free?"  She then proceeded to hand me a thick A4 file and told me to look. Grrrrrrrr!  I refused and said that we would rather eat elsewhere than spend the next 30 minutes trawling through pages of allergen specifications only to find at the end of the search that they've sold out of the one item that I can safely eat.

Where in customer service training has it been said to these cafes and other eateries "For best customer service make sure you don't know what is in the products you have to sell.  Instead give the customer a whacking great file to read through before they can even order.  Make them look like complete idiots and make sure you draw attention to them, because that's why people eat out....to enjoy a challenge and to be made to feel different."

Anyway, as it happened the Manager was on duty, so I stopped and had a chat!  He totally agreed, that it is really awful in terms of service, however it's dictated by Head Office.  They are not allowed to verbally inform the customer at the serving hatch what is gluten free anymore (or any other allergen for that matter) - it's against their rules.  They have decided that the best way forward is to thrust a huge folder into your hands and hope you move on quietly, so they can serve the lions' share of their customers.  They are so scared of being sued that the onus is completely on us.  So so frustrating and really poor I think.

I went home and made us all food instead. It's getting to the stage where I can't eat out without aggravation or illness - or most likely both!  Brunch at Chez Droppa this morning was far less hassle and risk free! #BetterThanEatingOut  The recipe for the pancake mix can be found here http://www.glutenfreetraining.co.uk/pages/recipes.html

Gluten free pancakes - with egg and bacon

Gluten free pancakes with peaches,
pecans and natural yoghurt

So, has the legislation helped us - for me 'no' is the answer.  I think it has made the situation so much worse, especially in cases such as this where the interpretation is way off the mark - common sense has gone out of the window completely.  I used to eat in chains because generally they were safe, but I have to say I don't think that's true anymore.  The kitchens are becoming ever more de-skilled (just ping and serve) with very little ability to provide anything that doesn't feed the masses and because of the way the food is bought in, it can't be adapted either.  Furthermore, staff turnover is such that big chains think that to undertake the training once will suffice.  Unfortunately, training is a continuous process (not just where allergens are concerned), but in all areas of the business.  Our experience of late has illustrated that there are huge gaps in staff awareness and knowledge and it does not instill confidence.

Time to move on......

You may or may not be aware, that we recently celebrated ten years as a gluten free manufacturer.  We began business in 2005 for two reasons.  Firstly, to provide fresh gluten free food that at the time was very hard to come by.  Secondly, and most importantly, was to spend as much time at home with our very young children. 

Ten years on and things have changed quite considerably.  Supermarkets and major bakeries cottoned on to the growing gluten free market and through massive investment developed acceptable 'fresh' gluten free alternatives to mainstream products such as bread, pies and cakes, when previously it was only small bakeries such as ourselves, and the few precscription manufacturers, who provided these foods.

Also, new legislation has meant that the catering sector and food service industry as a whole has had to significantly change the way they serve and supply foods suitable for those with food intolerances and allergies.  These legislative changes led us to develop our allergen training product, which is designed to assist the industry in effectively managing the demands of this emerging market.

Lastly, our kids are growing up so fast.  Our son is about to embark on his third year of secondary school and our daughter her first.  They have grown and developed into such amazing confident young adults and we couldn't be more proud of them and their achievements to date.

Therefore, we have decided to make a bold decision and close the manufacturing arm of the business in order to concentrate our resources on meeting the needs of our allergen training customers.  We have extensive knowledge of catering for allergens, especially gluten, having not only worked in the industry for over ten years, but also due to Jocelyn having coeliac disease.  We feel now is the right time to focus on that side of our business and utilise our skills to help businesses get to grips with best practice procedures, due dilligence, compliance and good old fashioned common sense.  We will continue to develop recipes suitable for gluten free diets, which can be cooked in any kitchen using 'easy-to-come-by' ingredients, as part of our KISS (Keep It Simple & Safe) Campaign.

We would like to thank you for your support and loyalty - without it we couldn't have achieved what we have in the last ten years.

Best wishes

Ferenc & Jocelyn

It was only a matter of time

This week brings us yet another product recall. A batch of gluten free onion bhaji mix produced by Samosaco was found to contain 'elevated levels of gluten' - (http://www.food.gov.uk/news-updates/news/2015/14080/gluten-free-onion-bhajee-mix-recalled).  Samosaco produce a range of vegetarian Indian snacks and this includes some gluten free mixes.

The question that is burning on my lips is how did this come about? Are the recalls purely because companies are more rigorously testing the batches themselves or are Trading Standards testing them and recalling products?  Either way how is gluten getting into 'gluten free' mixes?

We have been told all along by various companies, who have emerged in the last five or so years to the ever growing gluten free market, that the gluten free food they are producing is made in a 'dedicated environment', or in a place where strict procedures are adhered to and yet there have been too many products that have been contaminated recently and one wonders how this can happen.

If it is a procedural issue then one can only assume that the processes that are in place are either not adhered to or they are not robust enough.  Do staff require further training, or has the purchasing process failed so that the raw materials are not monitored effectively?

If it's an environmental issue then the significance of it is far more wide reaching.  If companies cannot make gluten free food in a factory where other products are manufactured, then they have to either have a dedicated facility (which could adversely affect the price point) or they simply don't produce gluten free food - in fact that extends to all allergens - not just gluten.

This spate of recalls could prove to be a significant turning point for manufacturers.  Yes businesses are ultimately there to make money (which is required to pay for R&D, staff, factories, utilities etc), but the main responsibility has to be to the consumer.  Contamination of this nature is as serious as a batch of food that contains salmonella or another potentially deadly bacteria...factories would be shut down until Environmental Health are satisfied that procedures are in place to prevent it happening again - the same should be true of allergens.

Multiple outlets - single source

Phew what a busy month May was! Not only were we celebrating ten years of trading, but also we have been nominated for North Devon's Business Awards in the Micro Business category.  The winners will be announced at an Awards Ceremony on 19th June....so watch this space.

The gluten free world has been shaken this week with a contamination issue at one of the major plants that produce gluten free food for some of the biggest companies in the industry.  Genius Foods recalled some of its products on the 7th June http://www.food.gov.uk/news-updates/news/2015/14047/genius-foods-recalls-some-gluten-free-products-as-they-may-contain-gluten

Initially, only three products were recalled: Genius Crumpets, Livwell Gluten Free Crumpets and Livwell Garlic Naan, however this was extended to a myriad of products http://www.food.gov.uk/news-updates/news/2015/14063/some-gluten-free-products-recalled It would appear that human error was responsible for the contamination.  Genius's statement on its website is that one of the dry ingredients used in the baking process affected its products - http://www.geniusglutenfree.com/en_GB/blog/Product%20recall:%20Genius%20&%20Livwell%20Crumpets%20and%20Livwell%20Naan and Genius went on to say: "The affected products tested between 5ppm (our minimum accepted level for all products) and 80ppm – therefore the risk to consumers by industry standard is very low."

I have to take umbrage at that last statement.  The law states that for companies to make the 'gluten free' claim their finished products must test at less than 20 parts per million of gluten.  There is a reason for this - numerous studies have indicated that products that contain more than 20 ppm have an adverse affect on the health of a significant number of coeliacs.  In fact, other countries such as Australia, have a lower gluten free threshold than the UK.  So, for a specialist gluten free manufacturer to make a blanket statement like the above, it would seem that the products it produces are aimed more at the gluten free 'lifestylers' and not the coeliac market.

However, as a manufacturer myself I have to empathise a little with Genius.  All the procedures and processes that one has in place cannot ever totally allow for the fallibility of human intervention. Although, it should not have happened in the first place, the best we can hope for is that the company learns from this.....as should all other manufacturing plants that produce different products in the same place.

What I find particularly interesting about the whole thing is that all these own label and branded products are sub-contracted and are actually made in the same place by a single manufacturer - as is true, I'm sure, of many 'normal' food brands.  So, Genius crumpets are fundamentally the same as Livwell's and all the other supermarket brands.  And yet we are constantly wowed by the choice now available.....it brings it in to focus that if you want real choice, you need to shop at smaller independent manufacturers and retailers.

Droppa & Droppa celebrates ten years

Droppa & Droppa Limited is celebrating ten years of trading on 5th May.  From humble beginnings as an artisan gluten, wheat and dairy free bakery, the business has grown and diversified to include training on catering for gluten free diets.  To celebrate the anniversary, Droppa & Droppa is running a competition with the following prizes: a two nights’ stay for two in The Red Lion Hotel, Clovelly; Afternoon Tea for two in The Chesterfield Hotel, Mayfair; and entrance and lunch for two in Marwood Hill Gardens, Barnstaple.  If you are a food business then there are ten DVDs of the training to be won.  The competition will run from the 1st to the 18th May 2015 inclusive.

Droppa & Droppa Limited is celebrating ten years of trading on 5th May.  From humble beginnings as an artisan gluten, wheat and dairy free bakery, the business has grown and diversified to include training on catering for gluten free diets.  To celebrate the anniversary, Droppa & Droppa is running a competition with the following prizes: a two nights’ stay for two in The Red Lion Hotel, Clovelly; Afternoon Tea for two in The Chesterfield Hotel, Mayfair; and entrance and lunch for two in Marwood Hill Gardens, Barnstaple.  If you are a food business then there are ten DVDs of the training to be won.  The competition will run from the 1st to the 18th May 2015 inclusive.  To win one of these great prizes, entrants can either go to wwwdroppaanddroppa.com on Facebook and like and share its last post, or alternatively find droppaanddroppa on Twitter and re-tweet the last post.

Ferenc and Jocelyn Droppa set up their micro bakery after giving up the rat race in London and moving to Devon in 2004.  Ferenc initially contracted back to London in his previous job as a Customer Services Project Manager for a financial printing company, whilst Jocelyn looked after their two small children.  The couple spent the first six months getting used to their new surroundings and pace of life, whilst they decided what they wanted to do.  Having no family to assist with childcare locally, it was an obvious choice to work from home.  Jocelyn, having been diagnosed as a coeliac (an autoimmune illness where the only ‘cure’ is adherence to a strict gluten free diet for life) ten years prior, had always baked bread, cakes and pies, so it was a natural progression to try and sell them locally.

They began with a few local clients and over time built the business up to selling to hotels, cafes, pubs and restaurants throughout the country.  The Free From business has grown massively in the past ten years and Droppa & Droppa has seen many changes.  “Initially, the industry consisted of a handful of small manufacturers and one or two large companies,” said Director Ferenc Droppa.  “Gluten free food was long life and either was available at specialist health food shops or on prescription if you were a diagnosed coeliac.  Now the market has opened up and free from food aisles can be found in every supermarket – there’s fresh bread, cakes, pasta, biscuits…..the list is endless.

“This rapid growth has had an impact on small manufacturers like us.  However, the advent of recent Allergen Laws has heralded even greater change.  In January 2012, the EU issued a directive with regards to food labelling and it re-classified the definition of gluten free.  Then in December 2014, it became compulsory for all food service providers to declare any allergens (there are 14 recognised allergens) present in their food.

“We realised caterers would require training and as experts in gluten free we set about assisting the food service industry in managing the gluten free offering.  We began by running training seminars back in 2011.  After the success of these face-to-face seminars we developed a DVD and an on-line version, so that businesses could access the material wherever they were based.  Crucially, users can re-visit and watch the DVD and / or on-line training as often as required, and at their own pace.  This facility to view the course material multiple times offers a cost effective means of training new, temporary and / or seasonal staff.  It’s not just about selling a gluten free meal it’s also about how it’s handled from the kitchen right through to the front of house."

Top 100 chefs......

Since my last blog the twitter wires have been burning!! Firstly there was a bit of a ding dong about the meaning of dairy free.  For those who wish to have clarification please see the FSA’s guidelines on what can be defined as dairy free.


http://www.food.gov.uk/sites/default/files/food-allergen-labelling-technical-guidance.pdf Page 17 Point 40.

Fundamentally, although there is no legal definition of dairy free, if a product contains mammalian milk of any sort it has to be labelled as such.  Therefore ‘free from milk’, must mean free from all milk, not just cow’s milk.  If a product contains any form of milk it must be clearly highlighted on the label as an allergen. In the case of food sold in restaurants etc., it must be written or verbally communicated that the product contains this allergen. I will keep you updated on that issue.

The second major furore has been the ‘100 chefs–gate’.  Apparently 100 ‘top‘ chefs in the country wrote to The Telegraph complaining that the new allergen laws that came into effect on December 13th 2014 are stifling their creativity!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/11460125/Top-chefs-attack-EU-rules-on-allergens-in-food.html

As you can imagine there have been numerous tweets, blogs, letters etc in response to this article. My favourite response has to be from Steve Wearne from the FSA:
 

I echo most other people’s sentiments when I question why some chefs are so negative about the legislation.  As food manufacturers we are also required to work within the confines of the law.  We must draw attention to any allergens in the food we sell this includes both the product label and also at the point of sale.  It is worth noting that the EU Food Information for Consumers Regulation first appeared in 2011 and businesses were given a transition period of over three years to comply in respect of allergen declarations.  This has allowed us and other manufacturers time to get our labelling and packaging in order.  It’s not as if it was forced upon us at the last minute!

It is also worth noting that although it is in response to an EU directive, the FSA along with several other interested parties including key representatives from within the food industry have been involved in fine tuning the legislation. The article reads as if it were forced upon us by the EU Bureaucrats – another bit of EU bashing one feels.

On a more personal note, I really don’t see the problem in letting consumers know what is in the food they are buying.  There is no directive to insist that they have to provide an allergen free meal, all that is required is that the diner is made aware of any allergens used.  This can be communicated verbally or on a menu – why is that so hard?

Sadly the chefs and business owners concerned are voicing what many of us fear – that we are still considered as fussy faddy eaters.  Food intolerances and allergies are not a lifestyle choice.  Yes it is very frustrating for a chef who goes to a lot of effort to create a three course meal without dairy for example, only to then see the diner asking for cream on top of their dairy free desert at the end of the meal.  However, none of us can take the risk that the consumer/diner is fussy – we have to apply the same due care and attention each time to ensure that we do the best our end in case the diner is truly intolerant.

One of the hardest things to get one’s head around is that food intolerances vary so widely from person to person. Some coeliacs are more sensitive to gluten than others and can tolerate minute amounts, some are asymptomatic and thus don’t have any outwardly ill effects from eating gluten, some people eat gluten regardless and suffer the consequences.  As food providers we have to err on the side of caution and ensure that if we state that the food is free from something, say dairy, then it really is free from all dairy.  All processes and procedures should be as robust as they can be to allow for the most sensitive among us.  If the client wants then to take a risk with their own health then that is their prerogative – at least we know we have done the best we can for them.

We mustn’t forget that there are two sides to every story, namely there are countless chefs out there who enter the profession because they love food and they are passionate about sharing their love with their diners.  However, not all diners are made equal and often they present a challenge.  We work with exceptional individuals who adopt a ‘can do’ philosophy on a daily basis – we salute their inspiration and encourage them to continue to embrace the challenge and push the boundaries.

The other side to this is that I also have to take some responsibility for my diet.  I have a duty to make the restaurant, café etc. aware of my diet.  Although I advocate strongly that all establishments, if they want to offer a gluten free meal for example, should always make that meal gluten free.  In many cases I think it creates more stress on the staff and the kitchen to adapt normal menu items, rather than having a few items that are naturally free of certain allergens and there is no digression away from that.  It makes it much easier for me to pick and surely it has to be easier on a busy restaurant.

A poisoned chalice?

I have had quite a few discussions in the last few weeks with various people about gluten free products in mainstream establishments and the apparent acceptance of requiring a gluten free meal when I go out to eat. Initially I’m in total agreement. I was diagnosed as a coeliac nearly twenty years ago and have seen massive changes in the quality and availability of gluten free food. However, has this meant that eating out and buying food on the run has become easier? Sadly, the definitive answer is ‘not really’.

As I write this, I’m sitting in a car park waiting for my son to finish a music workshop having raced from London to Cheltenham. I’m quite a few miles from home and have been for two days due to a friend’s party, which is taking place back in London. So, the situation is quite unique, but very telling in terms of the acceptance of my diet.

Firstly, I had to check with the hotel in London where we stayed that the breakfast I had paid for included a gluten free option. I had a bizarre conversation with a member of staff at the hotel, where she was able to tell me what items were wheat free on the menu, but not gluten free. I did get a tad pious and informed her that since December 2014, she was legally obliged to know which of the 14 allergens were in the food they were serving and that gluten was one of them! So with a proverbial flea in her ear, she finally found out the information and then said that special gluten free bread would be purchased for me.

Herein lies the first of the difficulties. I applaud totally the opening up of the gluten free market – in fact for the last ten years I have made my income from exactly that, however, there is such a raft of mixed information on gluten free. I can’t tolerate oats or wheat starch in any form at all. The other factor is that some supermarket bread upsets my tummy – not sure why, but they don’t agree with me. So what do I do? Do I present all these various dietary caveats every time I want to stay somewhere or eat out? I know that they would have either sent someone to the supermarket to buy a loaf; or ordered a long life loaf from their preferred foodservice supplier. Would I have the courage to say “Oh and by the way, please don’t pick up blah blahs bread and please make sure you don’t buy something with oats in and also can you please make sure it’s wheat free.” Now I’m beginning to sound like the client from Hell. I don’t actually know the answer to that rhetorical question, but being the “Please don’t fuss” sort of person, I don’t say anything and hope for the best!

I don’t think that I’m particularly unique in ‘no oats or wheat’ either, so when did the use of wheat and oats in gluten free food become so widespread that it’s made things very complicated for people like me. It’s the same when one eats out. Do you say I’m gluten free, but can you make sure blah blah blah. It just sort of further compounds the impression that we are faddy eaters…..and this is really where this blog is going in a roundabout sort of way

The second issue I am facing is that today I had no way of preparing my lunch, so what do I eat on the go….as it happens Cheltenham has four major supermarkets that I found after embarking on a mission to find a Costa where I can sit and drink my daily rocket fuel. I’ve been into each one to check out what’s on offer. I ignored all the ‘fresh’ bread - (the fresh bit is the basis for a whole dissertation – let alone a blog!). I am so spoilt making bread of my own, that I cannot physically bring myself to eat the stuff in supermarkets. They’re not so bad toasted, but I can’t get past the ‘pappiness’ (a new made up adjective!) and the lack of bite and chew in the bread. So I opted for crackers in Asda with cheese, then found a Waitrose, so bought falafels and tzatziki as well. Do you think ‘normal’ people struggle like this or am I just way too fussy?

Anyway, the point of all of this is that I’m so glad that I can pick up something – it may not be completely to my taste, but it’s a lot easier than it was five years ago, let alone twenty. However, this in itself leads to so many more problems. The first is that in order to make money the offering has to be a ‘catch all’ – hence the wheat/oat issue. The second is that like all products in supermarkets the free from range has to earn its keep and due to the low stock turnover, the products have to last at least seven to ten days. Herein lies my confusion with the term ‘fresh’ bread. If my bread was left out in ambient conditions for more than four days, it wouldn’t be very edible. Providing it was cool enough, it may not be mouldy, but it certainly would need toasting to eat it. So what fresh product lasts that long?

The other problem I have faced is eating out. I often read on various message boards how fantastic Nandos is for gluten free. Over fifteen years ago I was distinctly put off the chain by being served coffee with a very dirty spoon and that has led to my reluctance to try the food. However, we decided to bite the bullet and try it on Saturday evening. I checked with the server at the counter in a thick book what could be gluten free – as much as I appreciate the thoroughness of this method, I do find it very frustrating to have to go through pages and pages of allergens – why the menu options can’t be collated like other restaurants I do not know.

Anyway, it turns out that all the chicken, the chips and the rice are all gluten free. Doing a whoop whoop, I went ahead and ordered two platters of chicken – one spicy for me and my husband and one plain in case it was too spicy for the kids. As there was an approximate wait of 45 minutes, I also ordered a starter of garlic bread for the kids to keep them going. The garlic bread arrived and was consumed greedily whilst I gulped my wine.

When the platter came (to be fair in about thirty minutes, which was fine) it came with two pieces of garlic bread plonked on top of the spicy chicken platter, thus contaminating the chicken and fries. I called the waiter over and explained that a) we’d already had our garlic bread, and b) I had informed the server that I was a coeliac and that I required the meal to be gluten free and it now obviously wasn’t. The waiter called over the manager and he offered to re-cook my meal for me. Apparently what had happened was that the server had duly taken note of my gluten free meal, but he just failed to inform the kitchen.

So here’s my problem with the whole opening up of the gluten free market…..there’s still too much room for error. What I don’t understand about the whole thing is that if it were a vegetarian meal, then the whole process would be vegetarian from start to finish. So, for example, if I ordered some vegetable risotto (labelled as such), I would not expect to find chunks of ham in it, or a slab of steak on top, because the person who took my order had failed to tell the kitchen that I was a vegetarian. Being gluten free is the same principle…..if you say an item on the menu is gluten free, then it should always be so – no digression at all. It is gluten free from taking the order to serving it. That would save so much hassle, discussions and fundamentally adds to an establishment’s customer service credentials.

Sadly, I can’t imagine going back. Eating out for me is supposed to be enjoyable and yet it almost always seems to be a hassle? The big question is why is it always so hard? If you decide to serve a dish and you purport it to be something, then surely the easiest way to ensure it is, is to have procedures in place that don’t vary and ALL your staff know what those procedures are. Not wishing to harp back to the vegetarian example, but no-one (I hope!!!) would dream of serving a veggie meal with a side order of meat.....